of rivers and work 2025
this project emerged during the research residency: 'after industry – regeneration of utopia, reflecting on the revitalization of urban, architectural and care-providing utopias’ in trencianske teplice and nova dubnica, slovakia, curated by ivana rumanova, supported by institut francais and goethe institut.
maintained smoothness of sealed roads demands municipalities to indispensably subscribe to continuous suppression of water expanding in the inevitable cracks.
cues in boiling tar tracing the waters seasonal change of state to ice through bursting asphalt.
leaving a thick seal to resist the pressure of thermodynamics.
the performer of the pavement's cracks traces shapes of water resistance in vicinity to rivers that were stripped of their visual nuances,
with caldrons of boiling bitumen and a specialized drawing tool for hot, inert liquids, the desired function of the road is secured to avoid wear and tear of the passersby machines.
the small book „über maurice halbwachs (das problem der umwelt)” offers persepctives on the machinic and its workings. it was yet only published in german in 2022, in english it would read as “on maurice halbwachs (the problem of the environment)". it contains a translation of the posthum obituary from georges canguilhem to maurice halbwachs that he wrote in 1947. georges canguilhem might be familiar to some of the readers, since he was a mentor in the early career of michel foucault and influenced the foundation of his ideas in the range of significance. maurice halbwachs was a sociologist, best known for his work on collective consciousness. canguilhems obituary concentrates on halbwachs book „the causes of suicide“, first published in 1930 in french language, where he examines suicidal tendencies in urban and rural populations in europe.
the obituary was published by the faculty of humanities in strasbourg in 1947 after halbwachs died in 1945 through maltreatment by the nazis in the kz buchenwald, where he was deported to because he was accused of hiding his own son, a member of the resistánce and deserteur from a nazi labor camp. furthermore, the small book contains a review by henning schmidgen, an active advocate of maurice halbwachs writings, on the obituary by canguilhem and the implications that it contains. the review has the title “das problem der umwelt” or the problem of the environment. the problem of the environment, that schmidgen is trying to get to, has to do with halbwachs concept of „form of life” or „genre de vie” which was characterized earlier by vidal de la blache in 1910 to describe the „entirety of mutually influential relations between humans and their geographical environments, organized and systemized habits, that engrave themselves ever deeper and characterize the following generations through their acquired force“.
halbwachs updated the concept of „genre de vie“ or „form of life“ in 1930 to incorporate the thriving expansion of cities throughout europe with its new pressing factors of roads, houses, rails and everything that was added in the realm of built environment. against the backdrop of these developments, he proposes a definition of „genre de vie“ as „an ensemble of customs, beliefs, and ways of being that result from the habitual occupations of people and their mode of settlement “. halbwachs definition of „way of life“ or „genre de vie“ really comes into effect, as canguilhem points out, when we consider halbwachs emphasis on the societal infrastructure when life materializes itself in habits, techniques, organs and tools in order to influence physical matter. schmidgen notes here that the term infrastructure is here to be understood as superstructure which more clearly points to a kind of overarching societal hood. halbwachs observed that life, which humans are a part of, tends by using machines, to lose the awareness of its own duration. canguilhem identifies in this observation the claim, that the capitalistic way of life with its industrial means of production not only interferes with the outer environment, but as well with the structure and function of memory. schmidgen considers halbwachs thought to be of relatable quality to walter benjamins section of passagen-werk where he compares the slowness and improvement of practice in crafts with the mere dressage of the worker in assimilation to machines in industrial production lines. benjamin and halbwachs both were teaching in paris at different institutes but existed in related networks of the 1930’s together with george canguilhem. schmidgen considers both trains of thought to be relatable to the thoughts of karl marx.
40 years later in the 1970’s canguilhem keeps forwarding the importance of halbwachs in his essay ‘the question of the ecology’ where he recognizes the bloated discussion on the disturbed biological balance as distraction from the real problem which he identifies as the crisis of a system of economical means of production. he notes that “before we talk about nature and ecology, we must talk first and foremost about the technosphere and sociology“. schmidgen reads canguilhems identification of the question of ecology as a surface level of a deeper issue in societal organization, regulation and the technosphere as an homage to halbwachs humanistic sociology.
so life, including human beings, through the use of machines tends to lose the awareness of its duration.
continuous memory loss, brought to us by machines. it sounds familiar in so many ways. the first thing that comes up is that study i read years ago which points to the lack of memorability by the human brain of a text read on screen vs the same text read on paper, new studies show that it is the disturbed cognitive map mechanism leading to this effect. the machine takes many shapes.
but can matter also lose its memory? the machine takes many shapes, so does memory. if we look at these two images of river váh of the same area before and after the regulation we might get a sense of how matter is engrained with memory and how that memory can be lost. the regulation of this area was carried out mostly in the 1930’s, and with it vanished whole networks of reference points that help neurocognition to map and memorize space.
to grasp what led to the transformation, we have to start in ladce or lidec, as it has several names in this map. if we zoom in a little bit further and 17 years onward from the creation of this map, –
we arrive here. this is the first ever built dam and hydropowerstation in the river váh in ladce.
it was ready to serve the power grid in 1936. prepared to serve a new future, of prosperity and energy abundance. but there is a glitch in the image.
the first ever power station of váh is located 7km upstream from dubnica nad váhom. not a coincidence in 1936, as one year later the energy hungry zts special factory opened its heavy arms production in dubnica nad váhom. the strategic location of zts next to the populous dubnica nad váhom on the river and the hydropowerstation next to zts special makes clear, that the canalization and regulation of váh was a one-for-one exchange for the heavy arms production of zts.
the job giving factory replaced the life giving river.
since 1936 the factory is still operative.
the old assembly hall can still be seen.
the new flagship model is being prepared in a more private location surrounded by forest.
to meet the demand of the new production lines at zts special, more workers were needed. 13000 apartments were needed. and nova dubnica was born in the 1950’s.
the plan-city for the workforce of the expanding arms production was designed by architect jiri kroha in accordance with design principles of social realism and built by workers, that would start working in the arms factory after the town was built. the city of nova dubnica has been completed by 1957.
like cities need a constant flow of energy and water to be functional, people need culture to live in dignity. beyond culture that faces outward into a tele image, most towns also consist of a central plaza.
nova dubnica had its central plaza renovated in 2007. the design was created by antal and antalova architects.
the role of central plazas, traditionally, is to hold fairs, markets and festivities or rituals that define and strengthen the local identity. nova dubnica’s plaza received a rounded pedestal with a roof and a fountain made of three basins and a circumventing tiled frame that functions like a bench. the three basins, that are visible through the lapping water are cladded with an aquamarine blue foiling.
the prominent placement of the fountain with the three basins in the center of the town opens the question of reference. the type of blue of the cladding doesnt match any local mythologies, unless one would guess it should mirror the sky. the only reference that obtrudes itself is the type of blue, found in swimming pools of resort hotels in holiday destinations.
the specific blue tone inside the fountain brings to mind those hotel complexes set up for full convenience, which builds on the needs of guests that often bare their few days off work a year to spend in, what presents itself as, a paradise of longing. An imaginary place, that can be called to mind throughout the year when days are long.
shift work and assembly lines brought the opportunity to work at any given time, regardless of day, night or season. leisure became scheduled and rationed in evenings, weekends, and an annual vacation period. the new fragmented free time had to be requested and planned in advance. this produced the modern idea of a “holiday as compensation” — a time to recover from regimented labor. in anticipation of developments in the aviation industry, a new business model emerged: package travel, or all inclusive holiday.
sociologist joffre dumazedier in the 1960's called this “la civilisation du loisir” — a society of leisure that accepted structured freetime as a functional counterpart to the new work schedules as the new norm.
sociologist john urry in his book the tourist gaze from 1990 pointed out a paradox of this system when the all-inclusive resort replicates the same logic as the workplace — regimented schedules, control, and segmentation — but markets it as liberation.
buffets at fixed hours, activities programmed by staff, spatial zoning (pool, bar, entertainment area)
in other words, the form of leisure mirrors the form of labor: both are organized, time-managed, and efficiency-oriented. the difference is only in affect — pleasure replaces productivity.
henri lefebvre in his “critique of everyday life” from 1958 gives an early account of the commodification of time and helps understand why people seek ”total escape holiday” as as an artificial restoration of lost wholeness.
while looking at the different mosaics in nova dubnica during my residency stay in nova dubnica, i wondered how the fountain would look if it would carry a different reference.